Landfill gas quality SMS alerts on Cory Environmental site  

Cory Environmental wanted ‘smart’ gas monitoring for times when the site is not manned to avoid weekend and overnight staffing or lone working. Cory now has a system to monitor landfill gas concentrations and pressure continuously and send SMS alert messages.

Operation
Cory Environmental took over the Hafod Quarry and Landfill in Wrexham, a mature landfill site, in 2008 and carefully manages the gas field, optimising gas flow to a 1.75MW Cummins CHP engine. Change in the composition of waste being delivered to the site, including diversion of organic waste, is causing lower landfill gas flow and unpredictable gas quality. As a result the CHP engine is working close to operational limits and the Geotech AEMS automated continuous landfill gas monitoring system provides early warning of changes in the gas quality. This allows appropriate action to be taken, maximising power generation from the biogas and protecting the CHP engine from gas fluctuations which can cause expensive repairs and unnecessary downtime.

It is essential to maintain appropriate gas concentration and pressure so SMS alerts are set to notify three operational staff members if methane concentration falls below a set level, oxygen rises above a set level or pressure falls too low.

The AEMS continuous gas monitoring system sends SMS alert messages when these thresholds are exceeded. This allows staff either to phone the site or log on to the site RMS (remote monitoring system) and make the required minor adjustments remotely, such as opening a valve to increase gas pressure.

Ian Craven, Cory Environmental's landfill manager at Hafod Quarry commented, “The text alerts provide a means of controlling gas management on the site even when it is unstaffed, saving avoidable late night site visits and lone working situations.”

The SMS notifications can be set up according to requirements for each site or client and can include; power failure, calibration bottle low, modem comms failure or a full data disk. The Geotech technical support team also receives the notifications from all communicating gas monitoring systems. This provides an additional safety net as they are made aware of any issues almost immediately and can double check that action has been taken.

Cory Environmental is one of the UK's leading recycling, waste management and energy recovery companies, providing waste collection, recycling and disposal services as well as municipal cleansing. The company manages 3.5 million tonnes of waste and recyclables each year.

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